Sovcomflot Secures Loan for Arctic Shuttle Tanker

Russian shipping company Sovcomflot and the country’s bank Sberbank have agreed a new USD 106 million loan to finance the construction of a shuttle tanker.

The vessel in question is a high ice class Arctic shuttle tanker (Arc7) being built for the Novy Port project, under a long-term agreement with Gazprom Neft.

“This financing agreement will enhance the group’s long-term liquidity position, and will enable us to meet the capital requirements of our current shipbuilding programme,” Nikolay Kolesnikov, Executive Vice President and CFO of PAO Sovcomflot, said.

The new financing deal, which is the third major transaction of its kind between the parties, has a term of up to 14 years.

The first joint project between the companies was in 2015, to finance the construction of three Arctic shuttle tankers to transport crude oil from the Novy Port field.

“We are positive about the prospects for lending to the shipbuilding industry and look forward to the continuation and further development of the relationship between our companies,” Igor Bulantsev, Senior Vice President of Sberbank, Head of Sberbank CIB, said.